Cardiac Science's Unique Powerheart Bedside Defibrillator Saves Three More Patients.

Business Editors and Health/Medical Writers

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IRVINE, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Sept. 21, 2000

Cardiac Science Inc. (Nasdaq:DFIB), the developer of Powerheart(R), the only hospital monitor that provides life-saving defibrillation within seconds and without the aid of hospital staff, Thursday announced that three more patients in cardiac arrest were saved by the Powerheart.

The Powerheart has been commercially available since March 2000. It was introduced at the Arizona Heart Hospital in Phoenix, where the first patient save occurred this past May.

The Powerheart is pre-attached to hospital cardiac patients. It continuously monitors and instantly detects life-threatening heart rhythms and automatically delivers defibrillation shocks within seconds and without human intervention to re-establish the heart's normal rhythm.

Powerheart Saves Three Lives

In the first case, a 70-year-old man in the Critical Care Unit at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana, Calif., was saved by the Powerheart after suffering a heart attack. "Everything remained in control," said Lisa Moores, the CCU charge nurse. "The Powerheart was easy to use, efficient and effective."

A second patient, a 66-year-old man in the Intensive Care Unit at Arizona Heart Hospital was saved by the Powerheart after undergoing an angioplasty procedure. "No code was called because it all happened so fast," said John Mayhew, R.N. "This usually stressful, cumbersome process was much smoother because we had the patient on the Powerheart."

The third patient saved by the Powerheart is a 62-year-old man who suffered a cardiac arrest while playing golf at a course outside Chicago. He was transported to Rockford Memorial Hospital's Chest Pain Center in Rockford, Ill. During his initial evaluation, he arrested again and was saved by the Powerheart.

"I love having it here," said the charge nurse. "Not only does it put my mind at ease just knowing that it's watching my patient, but it's also faster and easier to provide a defibrillation shock -- I don't even need to worry about the paddles anymore," she said, referring to the hand-held paddles still used by many hospitals during manual defibrillation.

Not long after being connected to the Powerheart, each of these three cardiac patients developed a ventricular tachyarrhythmia -- rapid, unstable rhythms that can prove lethal if not treated immediately. The Powerheart analyzed and detected the tachyarrhythmia in each case, began a countdown to shock and either advised or automatically delivered an immediate lifesaving shock.

Sudden Cardiac Arrest And The Urgency Of Response

Serious cardiac rhythm disturbances can prevent the main pumping chambers of the heart from contracting. The heart muscle cannot pump blood through the body. Once blood stops circulating, oxygen loss begins to injure the brain and heart, and a person will quickly lose consciousness and could die within minutes if not defibrillated.

External defibrillation provides a brief, effective shock through the person's chest to the heart, restoring the heart's normal rhythm.

Recently published American Heart Association guidelines recommend that a defibrillation shock be delivered to hospital patients within three minutes of a cardiac arrest. While the speed of response is known to be a critical factor in saving lives, hospital studies have documented delays of five minutes or more before a patient is defibrillated.

For each minute that passes, a patient's chance of survival declines 10 percent. The ability to defibrillate within seconds also minimizes brain damage and the diminished quality of life that often occur when defibrillation is withheld for even a few minutes. Defibrillation within seconds may reduce patient complications and shorten hospital stays.

About Cardiac Science

Cardiac Science develops and markets life-saving external cardiac defibrillator devices and proprietary software that monitor and automatically treat cardiac arrest patients.

RHYTHMx ECD(TM) tachyarrhythmia detection and defibrillation software, the company's core proprietary technology platform, has multiple applications including use in external defibrillators, wearable defibrillators and in the standard patient monitors widely used in hospitals throughout the world.

Powerheart, Cardiac Science's first commercial product, began shipping this year and is currently used in hospitals worldwide. Results from a multi-center study, recently published in Pacing And Clinical Electrophysiology (PACE Vol. 22; 11/1999; p.1648-1655), a peer-reviewed cardiology journal, concluded the Powerheart potentially represents a means to improve both mortality and morbidity associated with in-hospital cardiac arrest.

Cardiac Science's global sales network consists of prominent distributors in 41 countries encompassing Asia, the Middle East, Europe, South America and North America.

The company has an exclusive agreement with Medtronic Physio-Control, a division of Medtronic Inc., the worldwide market leader in external defibrillator products, to distribute the Powerheart in the United States, Canada and nine European countries.

In June 2000, Cardiac Science licensed its proprietary technology to Medtronic Physio-Control, the world's largest manufacturer of external defibrillators, for integration into Medtronic Physio-Control's LIFEPAK(R) products for the hospital market. For more information on Cardiac Science, visit the company's Internet site at www.cardiacscience.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: The Powerheart's safety and efficacy, its ability to increase survival rates for in-hospital cardiac arrest victims, its ability to improve patient-care and lessen patient debilitation, and the company's ability to successfully integrate its technology into Medtronic Physio-Control's LIFEPAK products. Cardiac Science cautions that these statements are qualified by various known and unknown factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: future economic, regulatory and market conditions; future business decisions; market and clinical users' acceptance of new and existing products; impact of competitive products and pricing; and changing market conditions. Information on these and other factors are detailed in the company's Form 10-K for the year ending Dec. 31, 1999, and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Powerheart and RHYTHMx ECD are trademarks of Cardiac Science Inc. LIFEPAK is a trademark of Medtronic Physio-Control.